Saturday, August 27, 2011

With as many as 85% of Messmer Catholic School children going on to college, when public schools under union control see drop-out rates as high as 50%, you'd think the unions would encourage more schools like Messmer. Not so, as the below video shows.

Governor Walker supports results like those seen at Messmer Catholic School. We hear lip service from Democrats and unions that they seek it too, so why then do they so heavily oppose schools like Messmer that actually teach Black Children, not just shuffle them through the system and get them on welfare checks, stuck in the ghettos?

Americans are beginning to see both Democrats and unions for the thuggery they encourage to stay in power while they ignore the plight of the people they claim they serve.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

A coalition of 4 advocacy groups calling themselves “Green Scissors 2011” has issued a report identifying programs that they see as “wasteful or environmentally harmful” and are recommending to the recently formed super commission to cut funding. Page 18 of the report lists “Columbia River Crossing” at the lower cost of $3.6 Billion saved.

In reality, we here in Clark County know that if cut, much more than that will be saved.

The coalition comprised of Taxpayers for Common Sense, The Heartland Institute, Friends of the Earth and Public Citizen has no personal stake in these programs and recommends over more than $380 billion in wasteful government programs the commission could cut.

“Since its inception in 1994, the Green Scissors Campaign has fought to make environmental and fiscal responsibility priorities in Washington. The campaign seeks to eliminate subsidies and programs that both harm the environment and waste taxpayer dollars. By making these cuts, the federal government can save money for priorities including deficit reduction.”

Obviously not a conservative coalition, they still see the need for reining in over spending by Washington D.C. and it appears this is the first year they include the CRC in their crosshairs.

The report lists no specific reason the CRC is included in this year’s recommendations and it is far from the only program listed. We also see oil company tax breaks, tunnel projects and alternative fuel subsidies recommended to be cut.

Debbie Peterson, former candidate for the house in Washington State 49th legislative district says in a comment left on the Columbian article pertaining to this recommendation,

“There are numerous reasons for this project being eliminated, ranging from poor original bridge design, to lack of NEPA process, to huge intrusions on the fragile Hayden Island environment (36 square blocks), to the 20 historical Vancouver homes that will be negatively impacted, to the loss of 89 businesses (and who knows how many jobs that represents!) to the fact that IT DOESN”T SOLVE THE TRAFFIC CONGESTION PROBLEM.”

Debbie does her homework and is one of the more well-informed opponents to the CRC.

I’m not getting too elated as I have strong doubt that the chair of the commission, our own Sen. Patty Murray, who has continued to funnel Millions of our tax dollars down the CRC hole, will even consider it. Any who have been following the CRC for any length of time knows the main reason for replacing the aging I-5 bridge is to accommodate extending Portland’s MaxLine light rail into our community, whether voters and taxpayers want it or not. In fact, we haven’t even been in the equation as the ruling class continues ramming this down our throats.

Murray is on record as urging business leaders and elected officials to get behind the CRC and to deal with the ongoing controversy over it.

To date it has been mostly Washington conservatives opposed to light rail and who are supportive of a third of fourth bridge between the two states opposed to this project. Our complaints have been over funding, being denied a voice in it again, after defeating 3 measures on light rail at the ballot box, paying tolls and the lion’s share of the expense of a new bridge and freeway improvements in Oregon and seeing over $140 Million spent so far on “studies” with nothing to show for it.

David Madore, the owner of US Digital in Vancouver and a critic of CRC recently hired a forensic auditor to audit CRC’s finances and brought to light some questionable accounting. The Columbian recently informed the community of concerns the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council has over CRC funding, also shared by the Oregon State Treasurer.

Prior to that, Oregon’s Willamette Week brought up their own concerns over the CRC.

As I said above, this recommendation from Green Scissors is not a death knell to the project and I have serious doubts that Democrat Patty Murray will listen to them, but is refreshing to see a liberal group with no personal stake in this to see the project as “wasteful or environmentally harmful” and join our call to cut our losses and stop this madness.

We simply cannot afford to continue funneling hard earned and scarce tax dollars into the abyss of the CRC any longer.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Now that rebels in Libya are close to overthrowing Qadhafi, the following photo has shown up.

First off, can any liberal explain what is wrong with a little physical work? Has Obama ever actually performed any physical work? I doubt it, not with the soft hands I see on TV.

Secondly, just what did Obama do but begin a third war, bypass congress, essentially giving them his middle finger by telling them he did not need their input to send our Jets in to bomb and strafe Libyan forces? Why did we even go to Libya?

They have been no threat to the U.S. I wouldn't call them a friend either, but what was so important to Obama to overthrow a dictator in Libya, but oppose overthrowing a dictator in Iraq?

Yes, remember Iraq? President Bush gave Saddam Hussein some 6 months in his "rush to war" to leave before commencing the attack and has been soundly trashed for it ever since doing so.

Obama has made no case for attacking Libya and no one is questioning his decision to lead NATO forces in deposing a sovereign head of state, as he and his fellow Democrats did with George W. Bush.

Obama never served a day in the Military, but receives credit for great Military leadership?

But, the biggest problem I have with this, why praise Obama for doing what they condemned Bush for doing?

Gotta love Liberal Democrats and their continuing double standards. Praise Obama for doing exactly what they protested Bush for doing.

Received in email, "I know this is supposed to be the smartest administration ever, but I’m sorry; if I were running a campaign with a fairly unpopular incumbent, the last thing I’d do is have a reelection slogan whose initials were WTF."

Janeane Garofalo says so. If you strive to better yourself, become successful and wealthy and adhere to the old fashioned conservative family values your grandparents taught, you're a sell-out, nuts, bought and paid for or afflicted with Stockholm Syndrome.

Don't you Black People dare step off of Uncle Sam's Liberal Plantation.

As an 8 year Veteran of the US Army, 18 months in Vietnam, I am dumbfounded that this would be happening in America.

How sick our society has become that a small group of hatemongers from Topeka, Kansas has a constitutional right to disrupt and denigrate the funeral of a fallen hero by protesting it, yet those wishing to support, express appreciation and offer condolences to the family of that fallen hero are banned from uttering "May God Bless You."

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Amateur video of Obama's Canadian built armored buses and the complete motorcade driving by a Ford dealership.

I can't help but wonder just how much fossil fuel was wasted and pollutants were emitted from the tail pipe of both buses, all of those Police Cars, SUVs and other assorted vehicles in the procession, just so Obama could try to appear as if he actually cared about Americans.

Fox News reports, "Obama is barnstorming the heartland to boost U.S. jobs in a taxpayer-financed luxury bus the government had custom built -- in Canada..."

From the looks of the motorcade, it appears he is boosting jobs,,,,,, for Saudi Oil Workers.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Few inventions have given people more freedom of movement and mobility than has the car. We Americans are known for our deep abiding love of our cars and can be seen displaying such admiration most summer weekends at various gatherings and shows where folks gather to show off their restored, customized or souped up hot rods. We proudly boast of being “certified car nuts.”

Ever since the oil embargo of 1973 though, our cars have been under assault. The greatest of these assaults seems to be coming from environmentalists claiming how dirty the exhaust is from fossil fuels and how the car is causing the planet to warm up too much. Joining in with the assault is the Environmental Protection Agency as they pass regulation after regulation in the belief they are going to improve how the planet cares for itself and “save mankind” from ourselves.

The Muscle Cars, those high compression, large cubic engine monsters we saw back in the 1960’s are long gone as regulations were set in place to begin lowering emissions from the tail pipe. As the government mandated fuel economy standards were set in place and regulations set on what could be emitted from the tailpipe, we saw Detroit struggling to keep up and build in the technology Congress mandated.

We saw catalytic convertors installed, smog pumps, EGR Valves, lower compression and all sort of power robbing extras placed on engines as the cars themselves began to shrink in size and weight in order to achieve government regulated Fuel Economy Standards. The 1970’s and early 1980’s saw Detroit turning out some pretty awful cars as they tried to compete with smaller imports from Japan and Germany and still provide Americans with the larger cars we wanted.

Technology eventually caught up with legislation and we saw some vastly improved cars coming out of the Big 3. Engineers discovered that replacing old reliable systems like carburetors with fuel injection and computerized engine management, emissions remained very low and some of the power we saw lost before was returned. The cars have remained smaller though, prompting many who sought larger vehicles to turn to full sized pick-up trucks and SUVs, that weren’t under some of the stricter standards seen in the passenger car.

It didn’t take long to see that putting such a mix of larger vehicles with smaller lighter passenger cars was deadly, especially for the smaller car occupants. The governments answer? Place stricter standards on pick-up trucks and SUVs to discourage the people from buying them, knowing the prices will increase just as did the smaller lighter cars as such standards were imposed upon them.

Barack Obama is only too willing to comply as he has announced further restrictive standards be placed on trucks and SUVs that Obama claims “will save businesses billions of dollars in fuel costs, help reduce oil consumption and cut air pollution.” His announcement claims,

“Big rigs or semis will have to slash fuel consumption and production of heat-trapping gases by up to 23 percent. Gasoline-powered heavy-duty pickups and vans will have to cut consumption by 10 percent, or by 15 percent if the vehicles run on diesel fuel.”
“The standards also prescribe a 9 percent reduction in fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions for work trucks, which include everything from fire trucks and concrete mixers to garbage trucks and buses,,,.”

The folly of such draconian fuel standards at the point in our struggling economy is demonstrated in that 14 Michigan Representatives, including members of Obama’s own party, wrote a letter expressing strong concerns over imposing such standards. Chief among their concerns is “overly stringent standards could add $10,000 to the cost of a new car” and “those higher costs can lead to job loss,” by as many as 220,000 jobs as people hang on to their older vehicles longer, lessening demand and causing auto makers (two of which we recently had to bail out) to lay off workers.

Further assault on our cars is coming from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as they have decided prematurely that ozone standards should be lowered. Ground level ozone when combined with the excessive hydrocarbons, especially oxides of nitrogen at the levels that was once being emitted from the exhaust forms smog when hit by sunlight. Exhaust Gas Recirculation and valve overlap in gasoline engines lowered the combustion temperatures in the cylinder to inhibit the production of NOx (oxides of nitrogen), greatly reducing the hydrocarbons once seen.

The EPA set an ozone standard of 75 ppb (parts per billion) in 2008 and ignoring their own policy of revisiting standards every 5 years, initiated a reconsideration of that standard and proposed tightening it to 70 to 60 ppb in 2010. Since ozone is also naturally produced in some regions of the country, meeting stricter standards would be very difficult in those regions as car owners would be who would have to suffer.

A study prepared by NERA Economic Consulting for the American Petroleum Institute states, “EPA’s assumed causal relationship between ozone and mortality has not been supported by EPA’s science advisors; The health benefits EPA attributes to the tighter ozone standard should are due to a slight reduction in particulate matter (dust), which already is regulated separately by EPA; and The EPA’s own data show that the benefits of the proposed ozone standard will not outweigh the costs.”

The costs? A further study by Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI estimates, “strengthening the ozone standard to 60 ppb could cost the U.S. economy more than $1 trillion per year between 2020 and 2030, and destroy 7.3 million jobs.”

Perhaps thinking they could combat the negative offsets; our illustrious government has been pushing for more EVs (Electric Vehicles) to be bought by us. While there is some truth in they don’t emit pollution while driving, they have their own drawbacks. One big drawback, Recharging requires more electricity to be generated which transfers the point of pollution to the generating plants increased output.

Careful study has shown recharging at night decreases ozone output, but was “shown to yield the highest amount of nitrogen oxides.” As far back as 1996, it was shown that the benefit of all electric care was vastly overrated.

In November 2010, the American Petroleum Institute submitted a letter to the EPA on their proposed Motor Vehicle Fuel Economy Labels that showed in an attachment that due to increased electrical generation, “sulfur dioxide (SO2) levels could be 10-11 times higher for electric cars than for gasoline-powered vehicles” over the life of the vehicles.

Since the oil embargo back in 1973, our cars have undergone significant changes. Finally, they have gotten better the past few years with the advent of new technologies. But, they still require gasoline, which seems to be the real target today. Every president since 1973 has called for an end to our dependence on foreign oil while keeping our own domestic oil reserves off limit to much of the drilling needed to recover it.

In actuality, we are trading our dependence on foreign oil for a dependence on foreign lithium to manufacture battery packs for the electric vehicles that have yet to match the range of our gasoline powered cars.

Things we take for granted in our cars now, heaters and power accessories, shorten the range of the EVs even further, creating more of an inconvenience if we wish to travel, especially during the winter.

Our power grid now can’t handle all of the electricity being generated efficiently. How much worse will it be once we have added hundreds of thousands more EVs to the mix?

The Obama administration was dealt a blow recently as a federal judge “threw out Obama administration rules that sought to slow down expedited environmental review of oil and gas drilling on federal land.” Hopefully, it will stand and we can see unemployed oil workers returning to work during these dire economic times.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

As much as those on the left denigrate and demean conservatives on the right, it is most laughable that they seem to think imitating our ways can elevate them to power. This cannot be demonstrated any better than the latest move by former Obama Environmental Adviser Van Jones, forced to resign in disgrace due to past involvement with a known Marxist Group, the 911 Truther Movement and for publicly disparaging congressional Republicans, as he copies Republican Newt Gingrich’s 1994 Contract With America that propelled Republicans into power.

Jones, working with Moveon.org calls his A Contract for the American Dream, playing off of the 1994 Republican contract mentioned above. That’s where the similarities end. As US News’ Peter Roff puts it, “it fails to define the specifics of what a new Democratic majority would do if returned to power along with President Barack Obama, something the GOP's Contract with America did clearly and succinctly.”

While the contract does not explain fully and clearly in specific terms, looking it over with a discerning eye reveal it to be yet another call for massive spending increases and expansion of government well beyond any America has ever endured to date. Contrary to its claim of for the American Dream, it is actually a contract for a socialist nightmare.

It begins playing off of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s 1963 I Have A Dream speech, “I have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.”

The contract then launches into a tirade heard all too often these past few years from the socialist left, “America is not broke. America is rich – still the wealthiest nation ever. But too many at the top are grabbing the gains.” And, “Americans need jobs, not cuts. Many of our best workers are sitting idle while the work of rebuilding America goes undone… We have a jobs crisis, not a deficit crisis.”

Those “at the top” who are constantly accused of taking too much, not paying their fair share, not giving back and what have you, pay over 50% of the taxes already! They are also the ones who own the companies that supply the jobs we used to have, but have now lost due to our continuing economic decline.

As CNN has finally admitted, There Aren’t Enough ‘Rich’ People to Tax to really make a dent in our trillions of dollars in external debt, the highest of any nation on the planet currently. From where I come from, if you are so deep in debt you cannot pay it off in a reasonable amount of time, you’re broke!

None of this stops Jones from sending out an email through Moveon.org pandering to people with, “If you're fed up with Washington and tea party politics, sign the Contract for the American Dream today.” That the Tea Party people want the staggering debt paid down and freeing up Billions of our Tax Dollars now being spent every month on interest payments, instead of being invested in America and our people escape Jones in his 10 step proposal he calls “for the American Dream” below.

1. INVEST IN AMERICA'S INFRASTRUCTURE. Rebuild our crumbling bridges, dams, levees, ports, water and sewer lines, railways, roads and public transit. We must invest in high-speed Internet and a modern, energy-saving electric grid. These investments will create good jobs and rebuild America. To help finance these projects, we need national and state infrastructure banks.

Wouldn’t it be great to have the debt paid down enough to recover some of those Billions of Dollars in interest payments going out every month to do just this? But, since our tax dollars are paying interest, what recourse is there currently? Raise taxes on everybody and borrow more, going deeper into debt.

2. CREATE 21ST-CENTURY ENERGY JOBS. We should invest in American businesses that can power our country with innovative technologies like wind turbines, solar panels, geothermal systems, hybrid and electric cars, and next-generation batteries. And we should put Americans to work making our homes and buildings energy efficient. We can create good, green jobs in America, address the climate crisis, and build the clean energy economy.

A job is a job, where I come from. The so-called “Green Energy” remains unperfected, unreliable and overly expensive. It can only remain in business now by pouring our tax dollars into it. For there to be jobs of any amount would require more tax dollars being poured into those companies. Additionally, as Europe discovered, “Subsidizing renewable energy in the U.S. may destroy two jobs for every one created.”

Ignored are studies showing if the government ended their moratorium on drilling our own oil just in the Gulf of Mexico, by the end of 2012 we could add 230,000 American jobs; More than $44 billion in US gross domestic product; Nearly $12 billion in tax and royalty revenues for state and federal treasuries; and a $15 million reduction in the amount the US sends to foreign governments.

3. INVEST IN PUBLIC EDUCATION. We should provide universal access to early childhood education, make school funding equitable, invest in high-quality teachers, and build safe, well-equipped school buildings for our students. A high-quality education system, from universal preschool to vocational training and affordable higher education, is critical for our future and can create badly needed jobs now.

Yes, just what we need, more tax dollars going to the Teachers Union while kids graduating from public schools complain now they weren’t taught the skills to land a good job. This is evidenced by a recent comment made by Washington State Democrat Sen. Patty Murray who said, “Too often, I hear from students who feel that what they learn in school isn’t relevant to the work they will do when they graduate -- and unfortunately, too often they’re right.”

Her solution? More tax dollars to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act in order to train young people entering the workforce with what they did not receive from public education.

4. OFFER MEDICARE FOR ALL. We should expand Medicare so it's available to all Americans, and reform it to provide even more cost-effective, quality care. The Affordable Care Act is a good start and we must implement it—but it's not enough. We can save trillions of dollars by joining every other industrialized country—paying much less for health care while getting the same or better results.

Even with the current problems in our health care in America, other system have been shown a failure in giving better care to more people. Even the New York Times came out last year recommending economically struggling Greece to abandon their socialized health care. And, our following suit, pouring more and more tax dollars into Obamacare and expanding Medicare for all is somehow different?

5. MAKE WORK PAY. Americans have a right to fair minimum and living wages, to organize and collectively bargain, to enjoy equal opportunity and to earn equal pay for equal work. Corporate assaults on these rights bring down wages and benefits for all of us. They must be outlawed.

Outlaw people’s right to work unless they join the unions? Referring above, once the government stripped the so called rich, who run and own these corporations they are complaining about, how many do you think will still be in existence? There won’t be any corporations except government owned corporations.

While the minimum wage always sounds good, has it really helped anyone? No. It is supposed to be entry level workers who are unskilled still. If you expect a fair wage, learn a viable skill. Government requirements on wages is part of what drives our jobs overseas where companies can operate with reasonable labor costs and still offer a product we can afford to buy. It goes without saying that every penny you tack onto a business in expenses are added to the cost of their product when consumers purchase it.

Unions, in their ever increasing demands placed on businesses have contributed to jobs heading overseas too. They no longer stand for fairness and safe working conditions as they once did, but have gotten as greedy if not greedier that business owners have been accused of. And, since they funnel money into Democrats campaigns to keep them elected, little wonder Democrats continue to support their demands.

That is not an American Dream.

6. SECURE SOCIAL SECURITY. Keep Social Security sound, and strengthen the retirement, disability, and survivors' protections Americans earn through their hard work. Pay for it by removing the cap on the Social Security tax, so that upper-income people pay into Social Security on all they make, just like the rest of us.

Once again, stick it to others. Social Security would be sound now if past Democratic administrations hadn’t raided it to fund their insatiable spending habits.

7. RETURN TO FAIRER TAX RATES. End, once and for all, the Bush-era tax giveaways for the rich, which the rest of us—or our kids—must pay eventually. Also, we must outlaw corporate tax havens and tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas. Lastly, with millionaires and billionaires taking a growing share of our country's wealth, we should add new tax brackets for those making more than $1 million each year.

Tax, tax, tax, but only a portion who already pay over half of all taxes received. The socialist doesn’t mention that if it were to be actually made fair, the 47% now who pay no income tax and still receive a refund every year ought to pay something too.

8. END THE WARS AND INVEST AT HOME. Our troops have done everything that's been asked of them, and it's time to bring them home to good jobs here. We're sending $3 billion each week overseas that we should be investing to rebuild America.

Actually defending America is something the socialist left loathes. Of note, they always preach “end the wars” not “win the wars.” They are who tie our Troops hands as they did us in Vietnam with ridiculous ‘rules of engagement.’ They are the ones who do not honor the Troops for their sacrifices, but look down upon them and consider them victims. They are the ones who discuss cutting defense at a time those Troops are in harm’s way.

If the socialist left had their way, our Military would be disbanded, save a dedicated force they would use to enforce their socialistic regulations upon us all. That, my friends, is a socialist nightmare.

9. TAX WALL STREET SPECULATION. A tiny fee of 1/20th of 1% on each Wall Street trade would raise tens of billions of dollars annually with little impact on actual investment. This would reduce speculation, "flash trading," and outrageous bankers' bonuses—and we'd have a lot more money to spend on Main Street job creation.

Again, tax, tax, tax. That is the socialist dream, tax all of us to pay for their wealth to grow. We pay the taxes, the drive the wealthy out of the country with their restrictive taxation and that leaves us, funneling what little we have left to the socialist elites at the top. They become the rich without working for it and we become the poor while working for them. All you need do is look to the plight of those in Cuba, North Korea and the struggles of the people in Venezuela. China too would be a good example where even as their economy is expanding, union workers earn $12 a day!

American Dream? Not hardly.

10. STRENGTHEN DEMOCRACY. We need clean, fair elections—where no one's right to vote can be taken away, and where money doesn't buy you your own member of Congress. We must ban anonymous political influence, slam shut the lobbyists' revolving door in D.C. and publicly finance elections. Immigrants who want to join in our democracy deserve a clear path to citizenship. We must stop giving corporations the rights of people when it comes to our elections. And we must ensure our judiciary's respect for the Constitution. Together, we will reclaim our democracy to get our country back on track.

We already have clean and fair elections. At least, if a Democrat wins, that is. And, if they worry about money buying a member of congress, do they complain about unions funneling some $30 Million into Wisconsin recently in an effort to undo last years’ election there?

How does granting amnesty to illegal aliens strengthen Democracy? More votes for Democrat candidates? Do we really need our tax dollars going to ensure Democrats win every election? If Corporations, recently ruled by the Supreme Court to have free speech rights in elections, do not have any right to contribute to elections, how is it unions do?

If they are concerned about the Judiciary upholding our constitution, shouldn’t they object to rewrites of it by the left to fit their agenda and Justices that look to foreign nation’s laws for precedence on constitutional matters?

Our country, a Republic not a Democracy by the way, has been on track for a long time. We had a strong middle class because of those wealthy the socialist left hates. They invested in their businesses, took the risk and hired more and more people. The Socialist is who came along and decided they needed to give up what they worked for.

And now, they mask their efforts at rebuilding America into a shadow of the failed Soviet Union by calling it “an American Dream.”

The only way the American Dream was ever achieved was by working for it and being free to make what you can. Those who would desire to start up a new company under Jones’ plan would be penalized if they were successful.

Monday, August 08, 2011

As expected and as I predicted at the small Tea Party rally July 28, 2011, America’s credit rating has been downgraded from AAA to AA+, with expectations that it might even sink further. We didn’t need to allow that to happen, but in today’s air of hyper-partisanship, party power being more important than the good of the country on both sides of the aisle, it’s what we received.

Our problem remains our ridiculous staggering debt, now with the limit approaching $16 Trillion. Our elected officials seem only able to address the deficit between what they spend and what is received in taxes, spending greatly outpacing tax receipts.

Seeing how our Congress can only spend, spend, spend, we have lost the AAA rating we have depended on. The S & P Report cites among their reasons, “We lowered our long-term rating on the U.S. because we believe that the prolonged controversy over raising the statutory debt ceiling and the related fiscal policy debate indicate that further near-term progress containing the growth in public spending, especially on entitlements, or on reaching an agreement on raising revenues is less likely than we previously assumed and will remain a contentious and fitful process.”

The left immediately focuses on “raising revenues,” increasing taxes on the wealthy, and completely ignores “containing the growth in public spending, especially on entitlements.”

Instead of rolling up their sleeves and setting to actually fixing the problems, what do we once again see?

That’s it, blame a group of American people from all political persuasions who have let it be known they are fed up with business as usual and want our staggering debt dealt with. Lay it at the feet at the struggling citizen’s who are losing their homes, can’t find work and see that years of overspending and borrowing by politicians of both parties to cover it brought this one.

Massachusetts Democrat Senator John ‘F’in Kerry, fresh from his call on the media to not give equal coverage to citizens identifying with the Tea Party went on Meet the Press Sunday morning and stated, “I believe this is, without question, the tea party downgrade.” I’m sure he felt that way too when he contracted construction of his multi-million dollar Yacht overseas and moored it out of state trying to avoid paying his fair share of nearly half a million dollars in taxes on it.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner came out blasting Standard & Poors for their downgrade claiming, “They’ve handled themselves very poorly. And they’ve shown a stunning lack of knowledge about the basic U.S. fiscal budget math.”

Howard Dean, former governor, presidential candidate and chair of the Democrat Party saw his opening too with, “Look, I think this Standard & Poor’s downgrade is a good thing, because I think it underlines the fact that you can’t [tackle the national debt] without raising revenues. The vast majority of the American people want us to raise revenues, particularly on all those gazillionaires that Republicans’ tax cuts mostly benefit. So let’s do the right thing. Let’s everybody put something into the pot.”

Leave it to Democrats to see any situation as a call for them to raise taxes. Dean also could not miss his chance to take a shot at American citizens too with his comment on the Tea Party, “they’ve been smoking some of that tea, not just drinking it.”

Yes, how dare citizens expect our economy to be properly handled and our fiscal house in order?

Barney Frank took his shots at the Military claiming, “the biggest reason the United States is seeing its credit downgraded is that it spends too much money being ‘the military policemen of the world’,” adding “reining in defense spending is ‘going to be my mantra’ for the next few months.”

Barack Obama, after spending a leisurely weekend playing golf and relaxing while the country crumbles around him, went on TV Monday morning with his own finger pointing and blaming everyone, accepting no blame for himself with the stock market tumbling more as he spoke, closing over 600 points down.

German publication Der Spiegel sees the problem as, “Europe and the US are hopelessly over-indebted. The crisis that started in the US real estate sector in 2007 has devastated state finances on both sides of the Atlantic and is threatening to wreck the euro and trigger a second global downturn. The world lacks the political leadership needed to end the turmoil.”

Obama said, “On Friday, we learned that the United States received a downgrade by one of the credit rating agencies -- not so much because they doubt our ability to pay our debt if we make good decisions, but because after witnessing a month of wrangling over raising the debt ceiling, they doubted our political system’s ability to act. The markets, on the other hand, continue to believe our credit status is AAA. In fact, Warren Buffett, who knows a thing or two about good investments, said, ‘If there were a quadruple-A rating, I’d give the United States that.’ I, and most of the world’s investors, agree.”

China, the largest foreign holder of our debt says, “The only way the Americans have come up with to improve economic growth has been to take on new loans to repay the old ones. To eat May's grain in April, however, will never be a permanent solution to a problem.”

China went on to call on Washington to “make substantial cuts to its gigantic military expenditure and its bloated social welfare programs,” as they are building their Military up.

There is a lot of blame to be spread around, none of which should be pointed at citizens wanting to see our debt paid down and overspending curtailed. We have no political power and as was seen during the debates on raising the debt limit, our voices went largely ignored.

The establishment GOP and Democrats might throw blame all around, but it is they we called on to get the real spending under control and to begin a policy of paying down on the debt.

We didn’t receive what we called for, but are now the target for business as usual politicians more interested in keeping their cushy positions than actually bettering the condition of the American people.

Obama says that the two sides can come together and solve this crisis.

How they are supposed to work together while placing blame everywhere and not acknowledging how the economy has worsened with every step taken by Obama and the Democrats so far to fix it remains to be seen.

Until they set us on a policy of lessening the staggering debt, now the highest of any nation on the planet, they will do little more than kick the can down the road to future generations.

"They had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, tape wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."

Thank you Swift Boat Veterans for Truth for exposing this guy in 2004 and keeping him from moving into the Oval Office.

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

the 4 year-old in Chicago quoted saying his response to gun crime is “I’m going to have me a gun!” When he grows up. Left on the cutting room floor is the rest of his comment, “I’m going to be the police!”

Note in the video above, Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP saying how important it is to "tell the whole truth." Maybe he could follow his own advice more.

Monday, August 01, 2011

Call it a sign of the heated times if you will or a throwback to a lawless era long thought behind us, but the forensic auditor hired by David Madore to delve into where taxpayer monies spent by the Columbia River Crossing project, Tiffany Couch and her husband were woke up about 2 AM Sunday morning, July 31, 2011 to what initially sounded to her “like a bomb.”

Cowardly vandals, under the cover of darkness decided to target Ms. Couch’s home.

The Couch’s have no teenage children at their home, so the prospect of a teenage prank from rivals is highly unlikely, considering no other home was targeted nearby. Clark County Sheriff’s Deputies came out, but seeing the marks of a teenage prank, did little more than take the Couch’s name.

Ms. Couch’s husband had awoken moments before the loud noise to what he; a “car-guy” described as “the distinct sound of a hopped up Turbo-charged Subaru” Mr. Couch looked outside but did not see anything and that was when the loud noise occurred and the car was heard speeding off.

Later inspection outside reveled the noise to have been caused by a can of Chunky soup thrown against the front door, now splattered all over their front porch.

Additional vandalizing found was, “2 Gallons of bleach dumped across the front lawn, 2 bottles of oily salad dressing (thousand island and Italian it appeared) over the front of the garage, 1 dozen eggs also splattered across the front of the garage and a note on the front porch that read ‘KARMA’.”

Ms. Couch has spoken out on questionable or irregular accounting procedures she has discovered in auditing CRC records that she has been able to obtain. She has also spoken out on some records not being made available in a timely matter and has been critical of claims made by the CRC that “just don’t add up.”

I find it highly unlikely that anybody that is part of the CRC project would have any connection to this vandalization of the Couch’s home and at this time there is no actual way to tell if the act is even related to her work, although the note left might appear to be linked.

If it is related to her work I would look towards hotheads as seen daily commenting on articles on the Columbian’s web page and believe they have the right to shout down others, especially conservatives.

Cowardly cretins seen belittling others do not realize that if they do pull such stunts, they hurt the cause they believe they are supporting more. They also do little more than damage someone else’s property as Ms. Couch does not intend to stop auditing CRC records.

I find the lack of concern by the Sheriff’s Department troubling, though. While the act also appears to be in the form of a teenage prank, I recall 2 prior incidences in our community of vandalization that were given a more serious look.

June 2009 saw what was described as “rash of [racist] graffiti in the Truman neighborhood” that drew the ire of then Vancouver City Councilman (now Mayor) Tim Leavitt who stated, “These are the kinds of crimes that are distinguished from other crimes in that they should be intolerable. They leave residents feeling intimidated and unsafe.”

The other was in July 2008 when the community became outraged at vandals keyed the car of a supporter of then Senator Barack Obama in his successful run for president with the words “White Power.”

That act drew the comment of then candidate, not 17th legislative district representative Tim Probst of, “If someone scratches ‘white power’ on a car, it’s important that we send a message as a whole that our community doesn’t accept racism.”

Be it racism, retribution, or trying to intimidate someone from doing a job, or even kids looking for “kicks,” such cowardly acts should not be and must not be tolerated.

Tiffany said, “At this time there is no way to prove one way or another whether this is related to my work. Only time will tell. This was more than a prank - as our lawn and front door and (possibly the paint on the front of the house) are most likely ruined.”

Such acts have no place in our community, regardless of the reason behind them.

Kudos to David Madore, Tom Hamm and WePeeps.org for organizing a work party to help clean up the Couch's home.

Words from Heroes To Heroes. Do No Harm, Especially to Yourself

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